204 VEGETABLE PAKASITES. 



and others, arid that the cause and the varying accident were 

 confounded. The cause of the green feculent matter must be 

 sought for in the catarrh of the intestines, the cavity of which 

 likewise favours the growth of the fungus, and not vice versa 

 in the luxuriant growth of the ftmgus. I have arrived at this 

 conviction in spite of Berg's observations (1. c. } p. 41 et seq., of 

 which I intend speaking more fully in the Appendix), which seem, 

 on superficial examination, to favour his view. We arrive proba- 

 bly nearest the truth by making the allowance that the aphtha- 

 fungus occurred at a later period than the catarrh of the intestine, 

 and became the cause of sustaining the latter by its very 

 presence, favouring to some extent the decomposition of certain 

 aliments into lactic acid. Berg states that he never observed 

 death as the immediate cause of the thrush-fungus ; all he saw 

 was contraction of the epithelium on the places above the 

 cardia where the fungi adhered very strongly, and he assures 

 us repeatedly that he never noticed underneath the cardia, or 

 in the lungs, fungi which adhered closely, but only loose ele- 

 ments of a fungous nature. Berg thinks that the fungi were, 

 no doubt, the cause of the earlier diseased symptoms, for the 

 latter disappear and health is restored with the disappearance of 

 the fungi. This phenomenon finds, however, its natural explana- 

 tion by inverting the causes, and by saying : As soon as the dis- 

 ease which favoured the development of fungi is over, the latter 

 will disappear, and it naturally follows that we have to ascribe 

 more influence to the generation of the acid products of digestion 

 than to the fungi, I shall return more fully to Berg's 

 experiments, in order to enable everyone to judge for himself; I, 

 for my part, think that the question is neither decided in favour 

 of Berg, nor do I believe that Reubold and Kobin (the latter 

 seems not to have been aware of the existence of Berg's work) 

 paid any such special attention to these experiments in treating 

 of the question referred to, as they undoubtedly deserve, in spite 

 of his defective and one-sided investigation of the subject. 

 Although I cannot share Berg's view, I agree with him that it is 

 not very improbable that the thrush-fungi, occurring in large 

 masses, are able to create a tendency towards an increased acid 

 digestion, if it were only because they pertinaciously retain the 

 acid which is found to be present. The frequent occurrence of 

 such a tendency may, however, be doubted, since the greater 

 number of the cases where this fungus occurs are accompanied by 



